by Olivia West
Hannah relaxed as she sat on the bed, waiting for the doctor’s arrival. Minutes later, the door slid open. “Ah, Hannah! Feeling better?” Doctor James’ smiling face popped into the doorway and the rest of the man followed soon after. He walked to Hannah’s side, and inspected the cast.
“I think I’m doing a lot better. The leg doesn’t really ache anymore, and it’s not just thanks to the meds.” Hannah smiled as she tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. It was much harder to explain the aching inside of her that missed skating.
Dr. James paced over to the backlight machine, where he read the x-rays for a couple minutes. “Good news, Hannah! Everything looks just in order. In fact, you’re healing quite quickly. The break is setting really well. I think you might be able to take off those crutches in several weeks.”
“Great! Do you think I’ll be able to skate soon?” She asked the question that she had been pondering for a long while.
“Well, what’s going to happen first is that once we’re sure your leg will be able to heal successfully, we’re going to remove your crutches and replace your hard cast with one that will allow you to walk while still keeping your leg secure. After that, we can evaluate whether or not you’ll be able to skate,” Dr. James explained.
“Okay, I understand.” She smiled, feeling more at ease.
“But I’m really optimistic, Hannah. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll be back on the ice in no time.” Dr. James grinned, while Hannah’s spirits lifted.
She moved off the bed and nodded. “Thank you so much, Dr. James.”
The doctor’s cell phone began to beep, prompting him to pick it up off his belt. “Oh, okay, I have to go. I’ll see you soon, Hannah! Take care.” Dr. James all but dashed out of the room, no doubt hurrying off to whatever emergency he had been called to. Hannah slowly made her way out of the hospital.
Her phone rang, and she checked it, delighted to see that it was Anya, ready to pick Hannah up from her appointment to go to dinner. Putting skating from her mind, Hannah headed towards the hospital exit, looking forward to having a good time with her best friend.
***
Hannah was on the ice again, gliding as gracefully as an angel. She performed every trick and jump perfectly, landing back on the ice amid cheers from the watching audience. It made her smile with every perfect move.
She felt like she was on cloud nine, like she was able to do anything in the world if she wished it. There was never a feeling like it.
The music ended, and Hannah came to a stop, throwing her hands triumphantly into the air as the crowd roared around her.
An announcer’s voice boomed throughout the rink. “Ladies and gentlemen, that was the amazing Hannah Avery! Is there even any need to deliberate about who the winner of the world’s best skater competition is? Give her a round of applause!”
The audience began to clap again, and Hannah beamed happily as she began to do a victory lap around the rink. The lights dimmed and from the side, the entrance to the ice opened and Francis skated out.
“Introducing… the fantastic Francis Miller!”
Francis joined Hannah and slid his hands around Hannah’s waist as they skated with perfect synchronization. They felt like they were meant to be resting there until the end of time. “Let’s do it,” he whispered into her ear.
“What? I’m not ready!” she protested, flailing her hands frantically.
Francis didn’t answer, but lifted Hannah in the air and threw her high. She let out a yell as she hurtled towards the ground, bracing for the impact. But it never came.
The ground beneath her disappeared, swallowing her whole as she fell, further and further down with no end in sight. She was gaining speed, and looking down, the ice suddenly appeared. “No, no, no, no, NO!” she cried out as she steeled her body for the explosive burst of pain.
***
Hannah sat up in the darkness, drenched in a cold sweat. She panted heavily as she struggled to breathe. The dream had seemed so real. It echoed in her mind as she swept matted hair away from her face. “Damn it,” she muttered as she slowed her breathing, calming herself down.
The dream terrified her.
The first part had been so good, the part she missed the most, skating on the ice without a care in the world. But now the fall marred her memory, scarring her. She realized just how scared she was about skating again, but she still remembered how much she wanted to be back on the ice.
Hannah checked her phone, realizing it was seven thirty in the morning. No point in going back to sleep. She had work soon anyways. She got up, heading towards the shower.
The hot spray felt so good as it washed away the last remaining memory of the dream, and it was a relief to know that at least she was clean on the outside. The jealousy towards Francis’ new partner, the pent-up rage she felt towards Francis for dumping her (quite literally), and the melancholy of being away from the ice for too long… that would be harder to erase.
After putting on makeup and getting dressed, Hannah hailed a taxi to the office, arriving just on time. “Good morning, Hannah!” an associate greeted her happily.
“Morning, Margaret!” Hannah said back before sliding into her cubicle. It was time to bury herself with work until lunchtime, like any usual day. She was finding the work interesting, and didn’t mind the long hours reading.
Time sped by quickly, and after two cups of coffee, it was already time for lunch. Hannah texted Anya, wondering if her best friend wanted to eat together like they usually did. She frowned when she read Anya’s text back that she was busy this lunch break, so Hannah decided to grab a sandwich downstairs at the bistro again.
After purchasing the sandwich, Hannah found herself steering towards the skating rink again, wanting to see the budding young skaters. The dream had brought up the feelings of longing, prompting her to act on them.
She reached the rink quickly, and laid her crutches down onto the bench. She leaned forwards, towards the ice. Her eyes were attracted almost immediately by a young girl in a plain black leotard who was spinning around, having fun while her mother cheered her on. With her long brown hair tied back, it reminded Hannah of herself in her younger days.
She continued to watch the girl, mesmerized by the sight.
Suddenly, the little girl stumbled mid jump. She was just about to fall onto the ice when a man steadied her, smiling brightly. “Are you alright?” he asked her tenderly as he steadied her.
“Yes, thank you, sir!” She skated towards her worried mother, assuring the distressed woman that she was alright.
Gosh, I remember those days, Hannah thought. Skating used to make her mother really anxious. Her mother’s eyes were always glued to Hannah, even though the cold was drying her pupils out, she could never truly relax when she took Hannah to practice. Hannah knew it and got up from every fall with a smile on her face, assuring her mother that she was totally fine – even if her butt did feel like it was on fire.
The man turned and his eyes caught on Hannah, still watching the exchange. She had a wonderful mesmerized look on her gorgeous face. Hannah noticed the man watching her, and realized that he looked familiar. The hair… the green eyes… Oh! It was the man from the coffee shop, a month ago!
Recognition hit as Hannah’s surprised face turned into one of disgust. She remembered just how flirty he had been, and how she had found him a turnoff. She tore her eyes away from his face and instead focused on her sandwich, taking big, deliberate bites as she kept her eyes away from the rink.
But try as she might, she couldn’t help but take a peek at his fantastic figure gliding around the rink. He slid on the ice like a natural, and was obviously very comfortable on the rink. His skates whooshed and slid as she forgot she was trying to not ogle him. Before she could stop herself, he had skated to a stop, right in front of her.
“Enjoying the show?” he asked with a grin, causing her to sneer.
“No, I’m just eating my sandwich,” she retorted, taking a big bite just
to prove her point.
“Why don’t you join me on the ice instead?” he asked, not able to see her cast through the barrier of the rink’s wall.
“No, thanks,” she replied, deciding to not reveal that her leg was currently in a cast. “I don’t want to.”
A look of amusement came over the man’s face. “Oh? And why not?”
“I just don’t want to. And the sandwich doesn’t want to either.”
“Can you not skate?” he teased with a light smile. “Ah, that must be it, isn’t it! C’mon, I’ll teach you. I’ll teach you how to jump and twirl, if you want.”
Hannah had to hold back a smirk. “Maybe some other time.”
He shrugged. “Suit yourself. I’m Andrew, by the way. And I’ll be here all week.” After flashing her one last brilliant smile, he pushed away from the side and started to skate again.
Hannah rolled her eyes as she sat back onto the bench, polishing off the rest of her sandwich. Oh, he was a looker alright, but not the type of man she liked at all. She thought back to Francis, the man she had thought was so honorable and loyal, who had betrayed her. Maybe she didn’t have as good taste as she thought.
She checked her watch, realizing it was time to head back to work. She gave Andrew one last scathing look before getting up and propping herself back onto her crutches.
The last hours of work became torture. She found herself unable to concentrate fully on the documents she was supposed to be reading and checking over. Instead, all she could think about was skating.
All of a sudden, the chair she was sitting in was more boring than usual. The computer screen was putting her to sleep. All she wanted to do was to be back on the ice, gliding along like that little girl, practicing to her favorite music. But her leg was preventing her from that, and she was scared that even if she did get back on the ice, her leg wouldn’t be strong enough to support her.
She thought about Andrew, and how he had tenderly helped the little girl. It was such a contrast to what she had assumed had been a typical player/flirt personality. She couldn’t deny that she liked it, and was kind of intrigued that he liked to skate too. Maybe there was more to him than she had thought. And she would definitely like it if there was.
“Hey you, working hard or hardly working?”
Hannah was snapped out of her thoughts as she looked up, finding Anya right beside her with a big smile on her face. “Working very hard!” She laughed as Anya pulled back.
“Sure, sure, I believe you,” Anya teased. “It’s almost closing. Do you want to watch a movie tonight? I just bought a new tub of ice cream and some more packs of popcorn!”
“I’ll only come if you don’t make me watch horror movies again!” Hannah said as she swirled around in her chair to look at Anya, who was holding a hot cup of coffee in her hand. “How about a good old-fashioned romance?”
“Fine,” Anya agreed before she took a sip. “Oh, and by the way, the higher-ups have told me that you’ve been doing a fantastic job. You know the Royce v. King case? Well, Royce won because of that discrepancy you caught! There might be a promotion in the works for you if you want to continue working here as a permanent paralegal!”
“Permanent?” Hannah repeated, rather stunned. “Really?”
“Well it’s not official, yet. But I’m sure it will be soon.” Anya grinned happily. “Okay, I just have to take care of one last thing before we go. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Get ready to leave soon!”
“Okay, okay, got it. You’re the boss!”
“I wish,” Anya said with a wink. She stalked away, leaving Hannah alone with her thoughts again.
The rest of the night, Hannah was able to put her fears about the future away and she had a good time with her best friend. She had always been the type to stay at home instead of going out to a club, and was glad Anya shared the same sentiments.
The girls curled up on the couch, armed with an oversized fluffy blanket and plenty of snacks, and escaped into the haze of the whirlwind romance being played out on screen for them. Hannah’s parents texted her just past midnight to ask how she was, and for the first time in a month her reply of “I’m fine” was not a lie.
The relaxing night was just what she needed, and when she went to sleep that night, it was with a wide smile on her face, thinking that though life threw her curveballs, it really was good. That night, she didn’t have a single nightmare.
Chapter 7
The next day, Hannah woke up feeling refreshed.
She was excited to go to the rink during her break after stopping by the organic café, feeling more like her old self as she munched her free-range egg and mayo sandwich. It was good to be able to look forward to something related to skating… something she hadn’t done in a while and was starting to feel further away from her reality. Just watching the skaters swish and swirl on that glowing stage was soothing to her, though she couldn’t join in on the fun herself.
It suddenly made her realize just how much she had missed it. Well, actually, that was a lie. She knew how much she missed it. She just couldn’t bear admitting that she couldn’t live without it.
But work was keeping her busy, and was fulfilling. When she managed to catch mistakes or make contributions to the firm, her actions had positive results and she was becoming quite the popular lady among her workforce. She enjoyed working with Anya (how fun is it to work alongside your best friend in the whole world?), and had made many friends among her coworkers that she frequently hung out with after work. Plus, her bosses were seriously impressed with her, and seemed to forget that she had only six months of experience at law school.
Her routine stayed the same for the next month.
She worked, looking forward to the day she would be able to be back on the ice. She regularly went in for checkups with Dr. James, who had switched her hard cast to a walking one, allowing her to take away the crutches and walk normally. Well, as normally as she could with a giant black brace-like thing on her leg. He had even told her that she would be able to take off the walking cast soon too.
During her breaks, if she were alone, she would go down to the rink and watch the skaters. Today was no different.
Hannah stood in front of the rink, feeling as toasty as a Pop-Tart in her winter coat and scarf. The faux fur around the hood acted as a neck pillow and tickled a little bit, causing her to relax further. She noticed that Andrew was here today as he often was. Over the weeks they had exchanged many glances, but he hadn’t come to talk to her again. It looked like today that all would be changed.
Andrew came to a stop in front of Hannah, smiling at her as his right boot’s blade scraped the ice without making a sound.
Even his technique was cocky.
“Hey, you’re here again.”
“Yeah, I am,” she replied dully as she played with a stray lock of her hair, pretending to look as uninterested as possible. “And so are you.”
“Why’re you always here? Yet you never skate yourself,” he pondered as he leaned against the rail.
“I just like to watch. And you?”
“I skate in my free time, aka my lunches. It’s my hobby, and keeps me in shape.”
She didn’t respond to this, as her attention was captured by a little boy practicing his jumps with precision. He fell hard, and her heart leaped in her chest, hoping he wasn’t hurt. But the boy got up easily and flashed his mother a big smile before starting to skate again. It made her smile too, knowing he was okay. Skaters tended to look out for each other like that.
Andrew followed her gaze, also smiling when he watched the boy get up. “Perseverance. It’s a wonderful thing.”
Hannah nodded, turning her head to study Andrew, who was still watching the other skaters. He looked softer now, more handsome than he was sexy without the smirk on his face. She much preferred this look. Before she could turn away, he moved his head, and their eyes locked.
Quickly, she swung her head to the side, feeling her cheeks warm. “I-I’d better g
o, my lunch break is almost up.”
“Alright. But before you do, you’ve never told me your name…” he said accusingly as he tilted his head. “I hope that’s not by design.”
“It’s Hannah,” she said before turning around and starting to walk away.
As Andrew pushed off the side onto the ice, he called out to her. “See you soon, Hannah.”
***
Good news awaited Hannah on her trip to the hospital after work. She had been led to the examination room as usual by a nurse after x-rays, and was waiting for Dr. James to arrive. She hummed a tune to herself, one of the classical Mozart pieces she used to skate to, as she sat in a chair.
